CIA chief threatens Iran against no nuke deal

CIA Director John Brennan says if Iranians leave the negotiation table and go for a nuclear weapon "they will do so at their peril."

The Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan warned Sunday that there will be “tremendous costs and consequences” for Iran if the Iranian leadership go for a breakout in nuclear talks.

CIA director’s comments came amid the negotiations between the world powers and Iran in the Swiss city of Lausanne to produce a framework for a comprehensive deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

“There are a number of things that the United States has available to it to prevent Iran from getting a bomb,” Brennan told Chris Wallace of Fox News. “So, if they decide to go down that route, they know that they will do so at their peril.”

The U.S. President Barack Obama as well as senior administration officials have pledged that the U.S. would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapon asserting that all options including using military force are on table in case of any break on Iranian side.

The U.S., China, France, Russia and the UK — plus Germany — also known as the P5+1 group, have been negotiating with the Islamic Republic to curb its nuclear program as it allegedly seeks to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes.

On Saturday, foreign ministers of the parties and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the progress that has been made after the weeklong negotiations that began on March 17 in Lausanne, while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei reiterated his criticism of Western sanctions.

The CIA director said that it was “not a question of trusting the Iranians on this,” adding that what the U.S. wants is a verification regime that would allow the inspectors to have comprehensive and regular inspections in all Iranian facilities.

He added that U.S. intelligence capabilities have sufficiently been robust to have a good understanding of what the Iranian nuclear program entails.

“I think we’ve gone to school on some of those developments over the last decade or so, so that we can now have a better plan and opportunity to verify some of the things that they are saying they are going to do and not do,” he added.

The top CIA official also noted that the U.S. has assured the Gulf partners that the U.S. would be the security guarantor in the region to prevent a potential escalation that would include nuclear weapons.